Protective materials are often used by people to protect themselves from bumps, cuts, abrasions, and other injury in sports and other activities. The present invention relates to resilient protective materials and methods for producing protective materials for use in products such as shin guards, helmets, baseball chest protectors, bicycle seats, chairs, shoulder pads, carry bag straps, sports bras, etc. The protective materials comprise a plurality of molded foam elements attached to a fabric sheet, and may also comprise a plurality of foam elements sandwiched between a pair of fabric sheets. The foam elements may have a selected depth and any desired shape, such as cylindrical, hexagonal, square, or any other desired shape. These protective materials may be used as components, such as liners, for safety equipment worn by a person during sports or other activities.
The method for producing the protective material comprises compressing a foam sheet against a mold having a plurality of internal cavities to form a compressed foam sheet having a plurality of foam elements formed in the cavities extending therefrom, each foam element having a molded surface with a top portion distal from the compressed foam sheet. The method further comprises attaching a fabric sheet to the top portions of the foam elements, and subsequently cutting the foam elements from the compressed foam sheet to produce the protective material. In some embodiments, another foam sheet may subsequently be attached to cut surfaces of the foam elements after the foam elements have been cut from the compressed foam sheet. The advantages of the present technology will be understood more readily after consideration of the drawings and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments.